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Defense of accused baby-killer begins with setbacks

This Friday, March 22, 2013 photo provided by the Glynn County Detention Center shows De'Marquise Elkins, 17, one of two teenagers arrested Friday and accused of fatally shooting a 13-month-old baby in the face and wounding his mother during their morning stroll in Brunswick, Ga. Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Glynn County Detention Center)

MARIETTA, Ga. — The judge in the trial of a Brunswick man accused of killing a toddler in its stroller dealt defense attorneys some blows Wednesday as they began to present their case.

Prosecutors wrapped up their own case in the morning with the testimony of Sherry West, the mother of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago. West was also shot in the leg March 21 during what prosecutors call an attempted robbery.

West identified De’Marquise Elkins, 18, as the shooter. He is being tried in Cobb County because of the amount of pre-trial news coverage in Glynn County.

Before Elkins’ attorneys could resume their cross examination of West, Judge Stephen Kelley ruled on a prosecution motion that had halted testimony Tuesday evening. He blocked the attorneys from questioning West about any alleged drug use, sex for drugs or mistreatment of her older children a decade ago.

Kelley concluded those allegations were not recent enough or similar enough to the baby’s death for defense attorneys to bring up as ways to show someone else shot Antonio.

He also denied defense motions to toss out the individual charges against Elkins and his mother, Karimah Elkins, 36, who is also being tried on charges of providing a false alibi to police on his behalf and evidence tampering.

Kelley also postponed seven defense motions for a mistrial for various reasons.

During West’s final moments of cross examination, she repeatedly batted away questions about whether she had changed her story in talking to the police and reporters or that she had misidentified Elkins. To most questions, she replied, “I don’t recall” and “possibly.”

“I just remember identifying him and being sure,” she said.

The first defense witness was West’s 21-year-old, estranged daughter, Ashley Glassey of Runnemede, N.J., who was released from a New Jersey jail on shoplifting charges long enough to testify.

During tearful testimony, Glassey explained that she never met Antonio and hadn’t seen her mother before the testimony, except briefly four years ago, ever since West lost custody when Glassey was 8. West called her the evening of the murder to give the news of her stepbrother’s death.

“She asked me how long I thought it would take to get the life insurance policy, the check to come,” Glassey said, explaining that she was familiar with insurance after having recently handled her grandmother’s affairs.

That night, Glassey had trouble sleeping because in the retelling over the phone West had changed the order of who was shot first, the mother or the baby. It bothered Glassey enough to call Brunswick police who never returned the call or investigated, according to the testimony.

“Some things she said to me just didn’t add up,” Glassey said. “I felt like I got blown off (by police).”

West sat ramrod straight in the second row of the audience, wringing her hands, as Glassey told how her mother had memory problems and instructed her not to talk to reporters.

Later, during a jury break, lawyers sparred over when to play a two-hour video of West’s police interview. Prosecutors didn’t object to it, only the timing.

“We’re eight days into the trial,” thundered Gough. “It’s time the jury saw the true Sherry West.”

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Eknomou told Judge Kelley it should come after a hearing outside the jury’s presence about pending motions.

“They’re just trying to keep this video off the evening news,” Gough said.

Eknomou responded, “There it has finally come out. ... We are now playing for the news media.”

The trial has gained national attention. CNN, Fox News, wire services and television stations from Atlanta and Jacksonville are covering the trial.

Defense attorneys played the whole interview, and West left the courtroom not long after it started.

The discussion on a giant screen across from the jury box showed a rambling discussion with two detectives that included her opinions on God, the child’s father, her disability and social violence.

It ended with the detectives leaving her in the interview room alone while she muttered to herself about suing the officers for making her wait so long. And then she cried some and then quietly emptied her pockets until the investigators returned to ask her again about the events.

West broke down again as she recounted the way the baby threw up as she was giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.